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Using Hygger for Scrum

Scrum is one of the most popular agile software development methodologies. Scrum allows you deliver quality software faster and to be easily adaptable to changes.

According to the Scrum Guide™, Scrum is a process framework that has been used to manage complex product development. Scrum is not a process or a technique for building products; rather, it is a framework within which you can employ various processes and techniques. Scrum makes clear the relative efficacy of your product management and development practices so that you can improve (с).

Let’s explore how you can set up Hygger for Scrum. We will start with Scrum Artifacts:

Product Backlog - Hygger Backlog board

Sprint Backlog - a separate Column on a Backlog or a Sprint board with a set of tasks for a certain iteration

Increment - Hygger Version

It all starts with sprint planning - defining the requirements: the features and bug fixes to be implemented within an iteration to reach the sprint goal. The planning happens on a Backlog board - a board for ideas collection and prioritization. On a Backlog board you can set the Value&Efforts parameter to prioritize and to identify the most valuable ones.

How does Story Mapping happens in Hygger?

Protagonists:

Epic - a large piece of work with a certain objective, may include multiple user stories.

User Story - a basic unit of work.

Bugs, Change Requests, others

An epic can be represented by a swimlane on the board. Correspondingly, user stories are represented by the tasks. In case a user story needs to be splitted into minor tasks, you can use a checklist for this purpose. Upon Backlog board creation Hygger offers you a set of default columns. Anyway, you can customize the Backlog board based on your needs. So, if you want to plan the sprints ahead, you can assign each sprint a separate column. This scheme will allow you to plan epics fulfilment between several sprints.

Besides epics, you might want to have other task categories on your Backlog, e.g. Bugs or Change Requests. You can use a separate swimlane for them, and categorize them with the help of labels.

Why to assign a separate column to each sprint? The columns on a Backlog board have a specific option: Push All Tasks. With the help of this option you can quickly push all tasks planned for a certain sprint to a Sprint board.

How to split a user story into several tasks?

In case you need to divide a user story into sub-tasks, use a checklist. Checklist items can be then represented either by simple tasks or by Smart Links. Smart Links can be used when you have related tasks on different boards. Smart Links help you quickly see the status of the task.

When you have chosen all the tasks for a certain sprint, you can estimate the approximate time needed to complete them. In Hygger, you can set a Capacity for each column and thus estimate the length of a further sprint.

How to start a Sprint?

The next step is a Sprint itself. To transfer the tasks from a Backlog to a Sprint board, choose the necessary sprint column and select the Push All Tasks option from the column’s menu. The tasks will be pushed to the Sprint board.

When it's time to start the iteration, you can start the Sprint. There is a Start Sprint button that launches a sprint. There are default sprint durations (2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks), as well as a customizable time period.

By default you have three columns on a Sprint board: To Do, In Progress and Done. This helps you track what is currently being done and what is next in the tasks queue. You can add more columns to reflect all of your processes.

To control the Sprint progress you can use the progress bar on top of the board. The progress bar displays the ratio of complete tasks towards all tasks of the sprint. You can use one of three states: % of sprint complete, 0 hour(s) out of 0 Complete and X task(s) out of Y complete.

To get a clearer picture of the ongoing sprint you can use a Burndown chart. Burndown Chart allows you to see how much work is still left versus the time left. Use the Burndown Chart to quickly identify the pitfalls and take preventive actions.

As you complete the sprint, you release it. The following actions happen when you release a sprint:

A new version within a project is created

All the tasks from the board are assigned a new version and released

The board is closed

In case you need to cancel a sprint, you can stop it. When you stop sprint, it returns back to its initial state.

Version management

As soon as you release a sprint, a new version is created. You can track version history under your Project settings in a Versions tab. You will be able to see the list of the released tasks as well as version status and progress.